At Work With is a weekly series focusing on different types of careers
Justin Bettross’s workplace comes with a spectacular view.
“I live in the park. I like waking up here with the hiking trails less than a few yards away,” said Bettross, the assistant park manager at Mistletoe State Park.
The out-of-doors has always appealed to him.
Both of his parents worked for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. His father worked as a biologist, and his mother is a park manager.
“My mother worked here,” said Bettross of Mistletoe State Park. “She’s the manager of Magnolia Springs.”
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As a child, he visited different parks and grew up in nature.
Bettross said he has good memories of growing up and participating in park related events.
“They had a junior ranger camp. It was a weeklong program for kids 7 to 12,” he said.
As the assistant manager, Bettross oversees the 93 campsites and 11 cabins in the 2,000 acre state park. He’s also responsible for different types of educational programming on site.
Some might refer to his job as a park ranger position, but Bettross said the word “ranger” is affiliated with law enforcement. That’s not part of his job. He does do some patrolling, but it’s more to make sure there are no dogs off leash on the site.
Mistletoe offers a lot of programming on the weekends.
Bettross said in typical school years, the bulk of his job would be doing programs for schools on field trips. The park offers programs for grades kindergarten through seventh focusing on topics such as wildlife and habitats, birds of prey, lake ecology and ecology life cycles.
COVID has curtailed those offerings.
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Still, some programs continue on. On Feb. 20, Bettross led a program about opossums.
Upcoming activities include a “Meet the Reptiles” event at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 6.
Bettross has a corn snake and a black rat snake that are part of that presentation.
On April 3 is “all about bunnies” with a talk on rabbits followed by a short hike.
“We do a lot of education, but paddling activities are our most popular,” he said.
Paddling events will be coming up soon with guided creek paddles scheduled for 6 p.m. March 20 and April 3. All equipment is provided, and the cost is $20 per person. Space is limited, and registration is required.
During the summer months, Mistletoe State Park has a lot of families spending their vacations on site, and Bettross is in charge of coordinating summer offerings.
To register for any of Mistletoe’s activities, call (706) 541-0321.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
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